Comcast has partnered with Skype to bring its video chat service to subscriber living rooms. With an adapter box and HD video camera, Comcast subscribers will soon be able to video chat with any other Skype users from the comfort of their living rooms.
Video chatting from the couch might no longer be some Jetsons-esque fantasy: New technologies are beginning to appear in game consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect and Nintendo’s new Wii U that could make video chat services available to the wider mass market.
Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect accessory might have the spotlight when it comes to gesture technology, but it’s not the only game in town. EyeSight is bringing its software and algorithms to camera-enabled Android tablets and Windows computers for remote controlling applications with the wave of a hand.
When Microsoft reported earnings for its most recent quarter, Peter Klein, chief financial officer with the company waxed eloquent about the success of Kinect, a new kind of controller based on motion sensing technology. That success is helping boost fortunes of another Silicon Valley company.
Kinect, which on its own is pretty awesome become even more powerful when it is married to an Internet connection. Higher the speeds, more the possibilities. This fun technology is illustrating the need for bigger broadband pipes and the possibilities that raw speed can have.
